In April, the New York Times posed a question on the beginning crescendo of the global COVID-19 pandemic from a religious perspective — was the viral outbreak which was expected to infect millions and kill hundreds of thousands the beginning of the end of days for mankind?
Covered by commentary on biblical predictions of natural disasters, man locked in a final battle against man, and public health crisis, there was one spiritual view that emerged as the foundation of what an apocalypse truly entails for billions of believers and non-believers alike.
From the NYT:
The crisis is revealing health care inequalities, class divisions and the fact that the most important workers in American society are among the least paid, said Jorge Juan Rodríguez V, a doctoral candidate in the history of religion at Union Theological Seminary.
“What is being revealed are the fault lines in the system that always existed,” he said. “We are just noticing it now because the system is stressed.”
A month after this piece was published, the United States found itself in the midst of another reckoning; this one on the pestilence of American racism distilled into the form of George Floyd’s murder. A stressed system, combined with a public health catastrophe and historically bad leadership in the White House has all come to a head for the nation and specifically for its marginalized peoples.
Historically black colleges and universities are at the epicenter of the conversation, but the revelations have peeled back layers not of weakness or demise, but of strength and opportunity. Enrollment declines are not as bad as originally anticipated for many schools, and some are reporting increases.
As a sector, Black colleges will receive more philanthropic support this year than in any other year in recorded history.
Even the U.S. News & World Report, which has promoted separatist, almost racist presentations of HBCU viability in its annual rankings through the years, has added metrics to give Black colleges a more equitable reflection in this year’s listings.
Global tribulation has helped public confidence in HBCUs to skyrocket in the eyes of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders of racism. From public health to poverty to institutional performance, everything wrong with race in America has been drawn into sharper focus and has motivated some people from all corners of privilege and awareness to change the circumstances.
It is fair for HBCUs to reap some of the rewards of the nation’s shaken senses of guilt and awakening; Black colleges have, across generations, desperately tried to warn the country about these ills and to reverse their effects. It appears that the years of work have helped them to now emerge as high-level targets for slightly-larger investments in solving the problems.
We all should be happy about increased giving and interest, but should certainly wonder if the revelations and the resources that are coming with them are signs of sustainability or a spur-of-the-moment salve to ease the sting of death and disparity with shades of biblical end-time prophecies?
After all, what does the projection of $500 million in gifts and donations truly mean for a sector that costs $8 billion to operate 100 institutions for a single year? What does $500 million in record-breaking gifts for 100 schools mean when the University of Pennsylvania itself raised $626 million in 2019?
When 2021 arrives, will Black colleges continue to attract hundreds of millions in donations from wealthy white donors and corporations if our efforts are successful and Black people aren’t being killed by police? Will Black students continue to choose HBCUs in large numbers if predominantly white colleges continue to up the ante on scholarship provision, marketing, and recruitment?
Last month, an analysis of public financial information of American colleges and universities revealed that 47% of HBCUs faced one or more financial stressors which could lead to closure in the next several years. This data was published three years after I personally wrote about the threat of 50% of HBCUs shutting their doors over the course of a decade — and all of these warnings were prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
What happens in the next 6-12 months when federal and state resources for families without income are exhausted, or when federal and state governments can’t resolve where to find the money for education funding without stable projections for tax revenues?
Between 2012 and 2017, HBCU presidents and chancellors were hired and fired at a historic pace. This was caused in part by changes to the federal student aid program that cost Black colleges thousands of students and billions in revenue. Black women earning these appointments were a big part of this history-making period, and soon became public casualties of the economic and political fallout of the crisis. Will COVID-19 have a similar impact on our leaders after 2020?
A year of tribulation has given HBCUs just enough time to soberly plan for an uncertain future. But we must be clear; the promise of a new heaven and new earth for Black college and Black people should always be balanced with the proof of what America is, and has always been.
